Saturday, 24 December 2011

The ZSP protested the slaughter in Kazakhstan in front of the embassy in Warsaw. We strongly condemn the state violence against the people, starting with authorities trying to clean the strike of protesting workers, and advocate social revolution to get rid of the bosses and tyrants.

Just slightly a week after the anniversary of the imposition of martial law in Poland, we made the comparison of how these two states dealt with social unrest by cold blooded murder and repression.
We condemn the imposition of martial law in Kazakhstan and support all those resisting it!

Finally we hope that people will make the struggle against the authoritarian, nepotistic and corrupt government of Kazakhstan also into a struggle against the state and capital in general. Because capitalism is as great a tyranny as any other.

Saturday, 17 December 2011

ZSP continues to inform the public about the case of Karol M., who is still in a coma after an accident at work and warn them about the work agency "Jerzy Madziarowicz- MIX". The boss of the agency, which hires people for construction work, claimed that Karol was not even working for him after the accident happened. Karol, who was working without an proper safety equipment, was left in a coma, without insurance. The agency claims that it has absolutely no responsibility.

Friday, 16 December 2011

The Okrzejowki Brigades have been patrolling Praga for a week, checking the houses, talking to anybody who is still up in the late hours of the night. We have encountered many interesting things.(See photos below.)

For example, we wonder how on earth the arsonist got into the last building set on fire. It is one of the rare public housing buildings where there is a domophone. The only person who could have done it is somebody with access to the building. The same is true of several other cases, for example where there were fires in locked basements, but no signs of breaking in.

ZSP took part in the Day of Action in support of the strikers of EULEN-ABB. . We held an informational picket at the Polish headquarters of ABB. There we delivered a letter and gave out leaflets in the headquarters, out front and on the street. We spoke through the megaphone and people came out of the building or opened their windows to hear. The children from the nearby school also did the same. We spoke not only about the strike in Spain, but the problems of subcontracted workers in general. (And we recommend the security guards from Impel who tried to interfere would better read our articles about working conditions in that firm and the many comments of their co-workers who responded.)

Thursday, 15 December 2011

On Dec. 14, ZSP held an informational action at a shopping mall in Warsaw to draw attention to the working conditions in FF Mercantil factory in Brazil and to the case of Icaro Polleto from the COB-AIT, who was due in court on the same day.

Icaro was working at FF Mercantil, a sweatshop which produces mainly for the LOTTO and FINTA brands sport clothing. He was involved in trying to organize there. Workers were demanding a five-hour work week, 8-hour day, air conditioning and ventilation, extra pay for working in hazardous conditions and the right to organize.

Sunday, 11 December 2011

On December 10, there was a protest in the Praga neighbourhood against the arsons that are occuring due to gentrification efforts. The ZSP and the Tenants Defense Committee marched to the places where there were arson attacks and the people from the buildings talked about their experiences. There was a big show of support for the Brigades formed by the ZSP.

The police have confirmed that none of the fires were accidental, but all were arson attacks. Despite this, they have taken no steps to protect the neighbourhood. So many people can see what it going on and say they will resist this process.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

In connection to arson attacks in the Praga district of Warsaw, some members of ZSP have started a self-defense patrol with neighbours. Posters are going up warning arsonists and telling speculators and other scum to keep their hands off our neighbourhood.

The group is named "Okrzejówki", after Stefan Okrzeja, workers' activist and socialist, executed in 1905. He was one of the main people in the socialists' combat organization. His group of ten attacked high-ranking tsarist police officers and officials. He bombed the tsarist police station in Praga but was caught and executed.

One of the main streets in Praga, which is now in the center of gentrification, is named after Okrzeja. Although Okrzeja was a socialist militant and the right changed the name of most streets named after socialists, this street kept the name, because he was also appreciated as an anti-tsarist.

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

On the night – early morning of December 6, three buildings were set on fire, one after another, in the Praga neighbourhood. In each case, somebody went into the basement and started a fire.

In one house live two of the founders of the Tenants Defense Committee. It was at a meeting of neighbours in front of this house that we first met. Now the residents of the building are terrorized. In another house live tenants who were fighting for their building. A few of our friends were hospitalized but will be OK.

(The man speaking in the microphone and the woman in the wheelchair were victims of arson last night. They had to be taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation but will be OK.)

Monday, 5 December 2011

Karol M. has been in a coma since November 3. That's when he had an accident at his construction job in Warsaw. To the horror of his family, it turned out that Karol was never given any contract by the work agency "Jerzy Madziarowicz MIX". The boss did not report the accident at work and went he was called by the police, he claimed that Karol did not work for him.

Karol has no insurance. He may never be able to work again. And Madziarowicz is trying to avoid responsibility. ZSP has started an action against the agency. The first step was to try to collect evidence that the agency is functioning and hiring people, with or without contracts. Now there is the task, which is not easy in Poland, of getting compensation for Karol.

Sunday, 4 December 2011

On December 4 there was a picket held in front of a landmark building in the Praga district which is about to be destroyed to build a luxury neighbourhood. We went there to add a social element to the protest, to speak about gentrification and speak about the problem of arson, most probably by the gentrifiers.

Most of Warsaw was destroyed during the war by the nazis, except for the Praga district. Therefore it has some of the oldest buildings in the city. But it also was neglected by the city, which now is selling it off to developers and trying to get rid of municipal tenants. The building in question was built in 1860, making it one of the oldest and was famous because there used to be a Gymnasium there, where Janusz Korczak studied. It is now owned by the company Elektrim, which plans to develop a bourgeois neighbourhood in Port Praski (Praga Port), with skyscrapers, luxury buildings and a marina.

Saturday, 3 December 2011

Today in Warsaw was an action to show disrespect and to attack fascist symbols. The action was made as a response to the growing tolerance and legitimization of the far-right. A court in Warsaw allowed the group NOP (National Rebirth of Poland) to register a number of logos, including the Celtic Cross and a falange. These are now protected under law and the leader of NOP boasted that he would make a case against anybody who showed disrespect to the logos. In other words, defacing the logos is now some sort of infringement of NOP's legal rights.

NOP registered other logos as well, such as a homophobic sign of people having anal sex with a universal no symbol.

Some people decided to go out and publically show their disrespect for these symbols anyway. There was ZSP, some other anarchists, socialists and LGBT activists. People were invited to make fun of the homophobic logo by posing in a big no sign, people had signs against the NOP logos. There were some rolls of toilet paper with the falanga, NOP and other things which people could wipe their asses with.

A few groups of boneheads came, waiting to attack. More of them waited nearby to try and beat people afterwards. There were some verbal confrontations, but people made fun of their stupid slogans and continued to detourn and destroy the fascist symbols. Some photos are below.

Friday, 2 December 2011

On Dec. 2, there was a picket at the Greek embassy in Warsaw against capitalist exploitation, austerity measures, repression and other attacks on working people in Greece. The picketers demanded to speak to somebody in the Greek embassy, except one they claimed that nobody there spoke Polish. We replied that it doesn't matter ... statements were read and there were different speeches, slogans and demands in various languages, with even a touch of Greek. After all, we reminded them that we know the word "anarchy" very well.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

We stand in solidarity with the people of Greece, fighting against the ploys of the ruling classes which are forcing more and more austerity measures on them. In Poland we hear the nonsense of neoliberal logic repeated again and again about how it is necessary to make cuts, as if the Greek working classes were living some life of waste and luxury. In reality, all the waste always comes from the top and it is the people who are made to pay for this. A few people get rich, while most working people get screwed.